A team of researchers at Glasgow University led by Professor Naveed Sattar with colleagues from the Scottish Diabetes Research Network believe they may have discovered why men have higher rates of diabetes than women in some parts of the world.
Distribution of Body Fat as a Diabetes Risk Factor
Although there are many risk factors in developing the disease, being overweight is a major risk factor. It is believed that the distribution of body fat may have a part to play. Men tend to store body fat around the waist and liver whereas naturally women have more subcutaneous fat evenly distributed. Therefore women need to gain more weight overall to develop the harmful fat that is linked to diabetes.
Type 2 Diabetes Definition and UK Statistics
According to Diabetes UK, Type 2 diabetes develops when the body does not produce enough insulin to maintain a normal blood glucose level, or when the body is unable to effectively use the insulin that is being produced.
Type 2 diabetes accounts for between 85 and 95 per cent of all people with diabetes and NHS statistics assert that 2.8 million people have the condition in the UK with possibly another million people undiagnosed. Although Type 2 diabetes is often treated by diet and exercise, medication including insulin is often required.
The Glasgow University Study
For this study, the researchers analyzed data from 51,920 men and 43,137 women with diabetes comparing body weight and obesity using the body mass index (BMI). The results showed that men developed diabetes at a lower BMI than women. The mean BMI at diagnosis was 31.83 in men and 33.69 in women.
The research was funded by the Wellcome Trust through the Scottish Health Informatics Programme (SHIP) and the Scottish Government, and NHS Research Scotland through the Scottish Diabetes Research Network. It was published in the journal Diabetologia.
In the Glasgow University News, Dr Victoria King, Head of Research at Diabetes UK, calls on both men and women to lower their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by 'losing any excess weight, eating a healthy, balanced diet and taking regular physical activity'.
Diabetes UK
The Diabetes UK website has a comprehensive guide to diabetes, living with diabetes, a healthy recipe database and the site enables individuals to assess their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes using the Risk Score Database. Diabetes UK also fund research with an estimated £5.8 million in diabetes research in 2011.
The 'Help Diabetes' Campaign
In a campaign called 'Help Diabeates', the Diabetes Research Network is asking people with diabetes to come forward and give their permission to take part in clinical trials on a 'consent to approach' database enabling clinical trials to be set up much more quickly in the future. This research is backed by the National Institute for Health Research and will be happening in selected UK regions over eighteen months - the North West, the South West and the North East area of London.
Frances Williams - Frances is an Autism specialist with post graduate qualifications but has had to take a career break. She is now a freelance writer. ...
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